The Aurors
by RenieandtheMoo
Summary: Following a shocking murder, Auror Teddy Lupin, and his new trainee Scorpius Malfoy must work together against an organisation striving to bring down the Ministry. But when the lines between good and evil start to blur, whose side will they be on?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

The body lies on the floor, green eyes staring glassily at the ceiling in a mixture of surprise and fear. In one closed fist is clutched a crumpled piece of paper. In the other, a wand – he tried to protect himself. Of course, he failed. No-one can withstand the Killing Curse, even the head of the Ministry of Magic's Auror department. Only one person has ever been known to survive it, and now—

"_Homorphus._" Savage stares at the body, waiting. The spell has no effect. He kneels down beside the corpse, and brushes the hair back from its forehead to reveal the famous lightning-bolt scar. With dark eyes, he looks up at Lupin. "It's him," he says. "He's dead."

Lupin carefully prises the paper from Harry's hand, and reads it.

_The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day, free from the strains of democracy._

* * *

><p>"Right, everyone, listen up!" Savage stands in the middle of the office, a tall, imposing figure, towering over the tops of the cubicles. "What you've heard is true. Harry Potter is—"<p>

A paper plane hits him squarely in the forehead. Ignoring it, he continues to address the assembled Aurors. "Harry Potter has been murdered." The room is deadly silent. "The public has not been informed. You know to keep this quiet. Everything is on hold until we've got whoever did this behind bars. Lupin and I have inspected the scene." The paper plane wheels around, bashing him on the back of the head. He swats it away. "Ackerley, Robins, I want you out talking to his family. Keep it quiet. We can't have a full-scale panic going around until we know what's happened. Johnson, get the body moved to the morgue. Harris, Wiggleswade, I need you at the Visitors' Entrance. Check everyone who's been in and out of the Ministry today. _Everyone_. I want wands checked, I want—" The plane makes a nose dive for one of his eyes. Savage ducks just in time, reaching out to grab it from the air as he does. "What do you want?" he demands.

"Read it?" Lupin suggests.

"Shut it, Lupin."

Lupin shuts it. Savage unfolds the plane, reads it, and then raises his eyebrows and reads it again. He sighs heavily.

"What is it?" Munch asks.

"We _cannot_ afford to take on recruits right now," Savage snaps. "Munch, get the door."

Munch turns around and opens the door, frowning. A boy enters the room, practically fresh out of Hogwarts, by the look of him.

Savage's eyebrows shoot up into his rapidly receding hairline. "Name?" he says, as though he doesn't know.

"Scorpius Malfoy."

"Malfoy," says Savage. "Go home."

Malfoy stares back at him with cool grey eyes and doesn't say a word.

"You heard me. Home. Now. You've got a nice manor and some lovely house-elves to look after you, and I can't afford to have recruits running around my feet. Out."

Malfoy raises an eyebrow. Just one. "Harry Potter is dead. You need all the help you can get. Are you going to send me home?"

If Savage's eyebrows could rise any higher, they would. "Out. I don't trust a boy who walks into the office spouting classified information and—"

Malfoy raises a hand, holding a flyer which bears a picture of Harry Potter and Kingsley Shacklebolt, shaking hands and smiling. Underneath, the caption reads: _Kingsley Shacklebolt and Harry Potter killed democracy. _And then: _Democracy killed Harry Potter. _"All over the streets," says Malfoy. "Show me your classified information."

Savage shoots him a dirty look. "Lupin," he says, "You're on babysitting."

* * *

><p>Lupin looks his new partner up and down. "What do we do know?" he asks, ready to get to work. Harry Potter may be dead, but Lupin is an Auror, and Aurors aren't fazed by death. Even if it is his godfather.<p>

"Aren't you the one in charge?" Malfoy returns.

"Aren't you the bright young thing brimming with ideas?"

Malfoy holds up the flyer. "Talk to Shacklebolt."

Lupin nods. "Good. Okay." He gets to his feet. "Let's go."

Lupin places his hand on the doorknob just as it starts to turn. He steps back as the door swings open from the other side, to reveal the tall, broad-shouldered figure of Shacklebolt himself.

"Shacklebolt," says Lupin. "Just the man we wanted to see.

Shacklebolt looks down at him in surprise. "Ah. Lupin," he says, in his slow, reassuring voice. "Are the rumours true?"

Lupin nods, pressing his lips together. "Harry… Potter's dead."

Shacklebolt nods slowly. "I'll need to talk to Savage."

Lupin casts a glance back into the room. Savage is nowhere to be seen.

"Procedure, " Malfoy says suddenly. "We have to question you before you talk to anyone else." Lupin doesn't say a word, but reminds himself to talk to Malfoy later. For a new recruit, he's getting ahead of himself.

Shacklebolt simply nods.

"In private," Lupin says, and leads him into the Auror office, and then through a door off to one side. They sit down at a heavy table – Lupin and Malfoy on one side, Shacklebolt on the other. Lupin wishes he's had a chance to brief Malfoy on shutting up and letting him do the talking, but he hasn't. He'd better not get in the way.

Lupin pushes the flyer into the centre of the table, between himself and Shacklebolt. "Have you seen this?" he asks.

"Too many times."

"Already?" Malfoy asks. "It was only published this morning."

Shacklebolt eyes Malfoy with an expression on distrust, out of place on his usually warm face. "It was plastered all over the walls of my office when I got in today."

Lupin nods. "Have you had your security checked?"

"Not yet. That's why I came down here. And of course, Potter."

Lupin nods again. "Of course. Was it just the flyers, or…?"

"Not just that," Shacklebolt answers. "Perhaps you should come up to my office."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N  
><strong>I'm a review whore. Please review.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Two<strong>

The walls of the office are covered from floor to ceiling with picture after picture of a solemn-faced Kingsley Shacklebolt shaking hands with a smiling Harry Potter. Smeared in dull red, in letters taller than each individual picture, is a messy scrawl, barely identifiable as whatever liquid it is runs in drips down the walls.

_YOU'RE NEXT_

"Merlin," says Lupin, before he can stop himself. Beside him, Scorpius Malfoy looks completely unfazed. Lupin is almost impressed.

"It's not the first," says Shacklebolt. "Although it is the most extravagant."

"And you hadn't informed Law Enforcement?"

Shacklebolt shakes his head. "I'm stepping down at the end of the month, and I didn't want there to be any disruptions to the handover, so—"

"Did you miss the point completely?" Malfoy asks bluntly. Lupin bites his tongue and doesn't reprimand him. Later.

Shacklebolt turns his gaze on Malfoy, waiting.

"'Kingsley Shacklebolt and Harry Potter killed democracy'," Malfoy says. "A smooth handover would only make it worse."

Shacklebolt furrows his brow. "Potter will be voted on by the Wizengamot."

"Will he," says Malfoy coolly.

Shacklebolt nods. "Would have been," he corrects himself. "The process is as democratic as it always has been."

"Can we see the other threats?" Lupin asks, as Malfoy opens his mouth to make a further comment.

From a draw in his desk, Shacklebolt produces a stack of papers and hands them over to Lupin. "They're not all threats," he says. "At the start."

Lupin nods, shuffling through the pile, reading a few here and there. _Who voted for you?_ says the first, bearing a picture of Shacklebolt at the Wizengamot, in full ministerial robes. "Sounds harmless enough," he says.

"They were," Shacklebolt agrees.

"And you didn't quite get the message?" Malfoy asks. Lupin gives up on subtlety and gives him a kick in the shins, while Shacklebolt pulls a piece of paper from the bottom of the pile, and places it on top.

_DEMOCRACY_

_OR DEATH._

"Right," says Lupin.

"And you didn't tell Law Enforcement," says Malfoy.

"We'll have to take these," says Lupin. "We'll be in touch."

* * *

><p>"Malfoy." Lupin turns on Malfoy the moment Shacklebolt is out of sight. "That's the minister."<p>

Malfoy raises an eyebrow. "Is he?"

"Yes, you dimwit. You can't go around treating him like an idiot."

"He is," says Malfoy.

"No he's not. When you're receiving death threats, the ministry's democratic credentials probably aren't the top of your list."

Malfoy raises his other eyebrow. "Democracy or death," he says. "It was a little hard to miss."

"And Harry Potter was voted on by the Wizengamot!" Lupin retorts.

"Keep it down," Savage calls from his desk. "Some of us are trying to work."

"And some of us have been saddled with Scorpius Malfoy," Lupin calls back.

"He wasn't voted on," Malfoy says. "And you haven't been 'saddled'."

"He would have been," Lupin says, ignoring the second comment.

"And you call that democracy."

Lupin sighs. "Shacklebolt recommended a candidate to follow him. The Wizengamot would have approved his choice. There would have been a smooth handover and everyone would have gone home happy, except—"

"I wouldn't."

"And nobody gives a flying hippogriff," Savage says.

"Except for the guys who killed Potter. Somebody gives a flying hippogriff," Malfoy answers, with a trace of sarcasm. "Bringing a new era of accountability to the Ministry doesn't quite sit with permanent Minister in—"

"Just because your family can't pay their way into power anymore," says Lupin, "Doesn't mean the Ministry is corrupt. It's got to be better than when we had Dementors and—"

"Get over yourself, Lupin. This has nothing to do with my family."

"Course it does," says Savage. "Now the two of you shut it and get back to work."

Malfoy rolls his eyes, swirls his robes and walks out of the room.


	3. Chapter 3

Wiggleswade and Harris make it back to the office just after lunch – as much as Aurors have lunch – with a terrified looking woman walking between them, dressed in a tatty, too big coat.

"Muggle," says Harris, pushing her dark hair out of her eyes.

"Found her outside," says Wiggleswade.

"We checked the Visitors' Entrance," Harris explains, as Wiggleswade offers the lady a chair and tea. "Nothing suspicious. But this woman reckons she saw someone go in."

"Saw someone go in?" says Savage.

"Is that even possible?" says Johnson. "She's a Muggle. Didn't they use _Repello Muggletum_?"

"Ask her," says Wiggleswade.

"Right," says Savage. He gets to his feet, and turns to the woman. "What was your name?"

"Serena Green."

"Right," he says again. "Come with me." He looks around for a moment. "Lupin, you too. Where've you put Malfoy?"

"Stalked out in a huff."

"Of course he did. Come on then. Interrogation Room. Now."

"What did you see?"

"A woman. She was wearing robes, like. Same as… you."

"What colour?" Savage asks.

"They were green."

"And what did she look like?"

"She was tall. Um… dark kind of hair? And pale skin. She went into this phone box, right, and then ages later, she comes back out, and she's carrying, like, a wand? Like, this wooden stick, but it was glowing, and—"

"When was this?" Savage asks.

"This morning. Early. Maybe five, six? So she's carrying this glowing stick, and then she gets it, and she writes on the wall, like she was doing graffiti, and—"

"What did she write?" Lupin asks.

"It said 'Democracy killed Harry Potter', whoever that is. It's still down there now, big as anything. And she wrote it on the wall, and then she just kind of… well, she disappeared."

"Was there a sort of… popping sound?" Lupin checks.

"Yes!" Green looks oddly relieved. "Thank god I'm not just going mad! Yes, there was a popping sound, and then she was gone. Nothing left. So I went into the phone box, and I had a look around – dialled a few numbers, you know. Put some coins in. Nothing happened. So then I come back out, and those two all but grabbed me and dragged me back in, and suddenly – well, here I am."

"Is there anything else you saw?" Savage asks.

Green shakes her head. "I dunno, it was weird. But that was it. That was all. This woman just walks up, spends half an hour in a phone box and then disappears. Poof! Just like that." She clicks her fingers.

"Thank you," says Savage. He turns to Lupin. "Take her down to the Obliviators, will you?"

"You're going to wipe my memory, aren't you?" Green demands.

"Don't be absurd," says Savage.

"You are!" Green says. "I've heard about this - people see something they shouldn't, and then they disappear, and when they come back, they're just like… like a shell of a person and they don't remember half of what they should know and then…" She leaps to her feet and makes a dash for the door.

"_Impedimenta_," Savage says calmly. Green stops in her tracks. "What was that?" she asks, her voice shaking.

"The door's locked," says Savage. "Don't even try to run." He turns to Lupin. "Doesn't look like we're going to get her down to Level Three. You do it."

Lupin looks at the terrified woman, and reluctantly pulls out his wand. "_Obli—"_

"Wait!" Green all but shouts. "Wait, there's something else!"

"What?" Savage asks shortly.

"If I tell you… If I tell you, do you promise not to wipe my memory? Do you promise to let me go? I won't say a word to anyone, I swear!"

Lupin lowers his wand.

"Okay," says Savage.

"Do you promise?"

He nods.

"She had a necklace on. It was a fist, and there was writing, too."

"What writing?"

"It said… I dunno, 'Scourgify' or something?" she says.

"'_Scourgify_'?" says Savage.

Green nods. "I think that was it."

"Thank you very much," says Savage. He lifts up his wand. "_Obliviate_."

"You didn't have to do that." Lupin turns on Savage the moment Green has been escorted from the premises, befuddled and bemused.

"Yes I did. Statute of Secrecy, Lupin. I—"

"You promised."

"She doesn't remember."

"I do! It wouldn't have been the end of the world, and the _least_ you can do is get a trained Obliviator to do it, not just wave your wand and hope she forgets the right thing!"

Savage's thick brows knot together. "Are you calling my competence into question?"

"Obliviators are trained for a reason."

"And that woman was hysterical."

"Because you were about to wipe her memory! I'd be hysterical too."

"Then that doesn't make you a very good Auror, does it Lupin?"

"And what does it make you?" Lupin asks.


End file.
